Selected for What?

In 2014, the provincial government and the Jeju Tourism Organization selected dozens of island foods, sights, and locations that best represented Jeju. Since then, little has been done with the list, which was compiled with a considerable amount of time and taxpayer money. Kim Min-hoe reports.



Report

Hallasan Mountain, dusted in snow, towers above green and golden mandarin orchards.

The Olle trails - a network of sprawling walking courses that cover town and country, and where tourists can catch a glimpse of island life.

And Jeju-style buckwheat pancakes.

These are the representative items officially selected back in 2014.

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Province, JTO designated 42 ‘top Jeju items and scenes’ in 2014

The province and the Jeju Tourism Organization have selected 42 items from 6 categories as being representative of the island.

The selection project was designed to make better use of these sights and products when developing tour products and letting the world learn about the island’s designation as one of the New7Wonders of Nature.

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Few tangible results from selections

But now it has been more than two years since the province made the selections, and some are not in any sort of special use among the tourism industry.

Right after the selection, a couple of local travel agencies released tour programs showcasing the selections, but no such programs are running now.

In addition, the province has stepped down from some projects derived from the New7Wonders of Nature appointment.

No more attempts to use the representative items as tour elements have been made.

Thus the selection project has become somewhat pointless.

INTERVIEW
Provincial government representative
The selections included sights, specialties, local foods, and beautiful roads. Some of them were related to the New7Wonders of Nature, and we planned to use them when promoting the island.
<인터뷰 : 제주특별자치도 관계자>
"비경, 특산물, 향토음식, 도로 이런 부분이에요. 자연환경이랑 관계된 부분이 있어서 홍보 쪽에 치중을 해서 홍보하는 방향으로..."

The province poured money into making these special selections for use in the tourism industry and as promotion of Jeju as one of the New7Wonders of Nature.

[Reporter] Kim Min-hoe
[Camera] Hyeon Gwang-hoon

But now, the province is not taking any further steps to make use of the results and their application in the tourism industry.

Kim Min-hoe, KCTV